<p>People always say that the ivy leagues breed the highly successful millinaires of America. But how true do you guys think this is? And besides the Ivy League, does a schools ranking really even matter with employers and your own future success? The selective colleges make students pay huge premiums, but is it really worth it, when you can be just as successful going to an unheard of school.</p>
<p>I’d first question whether “success” is best measured by dollars. Health, friends, family life, and a fulfilling career may be better measures of a successful life. </p>
<p>But if we are going to measure “success” with a lucrative career, it can safely be said that the elite schools do not “breed” millionaires, they fill their Freshman class with students who will succeed no matter where they go to school.</p>
<p>The research of Stacy Berg Dale and Alan B. Krueger (Google them) proved this. They compared graduates of elite schools with students who were accepted to those schools but ended up not enrolling for various reasons and ended up attending “lesser” schools. After a couple of decades it turned out that these students earned the same as the elite school grads. All the elite schools do is skim the kids with high potential and admit them.</p>
<p>The funny bottom line, according to them, is that a degree from Harvard or Yale says more about how well you did in High School than how much you learned in college.</p>
<p>There are a lot of “it depends” in this question.</p>
<p>Certainly, school matters in terms of having the academic offerings for your goals, and whether it is affordable without unsustainable amounts of debt.</p>
<p>If you mean prestige, it depends on whether your goals are school-prestige-dependent (e.g. investment banking, management consulting) or not (e.g. teaching credential, mining engineering, etc.).</p>
<p>More selective colleges are not necessarily more expensive than less selective colleges.</p>
<p>
Why ask a question if you already know the answer you want to hear?</p>
<p>IMHO the best offer one of the elitist schools like Harvard or Yale can offer it’s their student body. And I believe that this is crucial not only because of networking, but also because it shapes your mind due to the their diversity policies. They can afford to pick the most talented in each respective group, and interacting with such student body is priceless…</p>
<p>I agree with ucb’s answer. There are a lot of “it depends.” if you are smart, motivated and driven, and attend an elite school, many doors will open. If you are smart, motivated and driven and do not attend an elite school, you will probably be successful regardless. </p>
<p>If you are not motivated and driven, you will not do as well regardless of your school. You might do a bit better having graduated from an elite school. </p>
<p>But I believe drive and motivation are equal to being smart. If you have both, well…microsoft, google, facebook, etc.</p>
<p>Isn’t it a bit strong to claim that the Dale-Krueger study “proved” that the undergraduate institution did not matter? If the placement had been random, I think the argument would be more convincing, but it was not random as the students chose their own institutions. Is it not possible that these highly intelligent students had some idea regarding whether matriculating at the elite institutions would benefit them substantially or not?</p>
<p>What if the students who were very confident in their social skills in a wide variety of social environments reasoned that they would do just as well in the state schools while students who felt far more comfortable with other more bookish students reasoned that they would be better off in a more selective school? I am not claiming that was a common line of reasoning, but that there are many possible explanations for the results and it is quite possible that the study did not capture some important differences in the populations.</p>